Murrysville window-screen company will appear on ABC's 'Shark Tank' in January

Joe Altieri was taking a huge risk when he decided to leave his job in the window industry to start up FlexScreen, a Murrysville company that provides removable, flexible window screens.

Now he has a chance to have a professional investor share that risk.

Altieri, a Plum resident, will appear on the Jan. 5 episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” hoping to persuade one of the “sharks” to invest in his multimillion-dollar company.

And even though show runners reached out to Altieri, he still had to undergo the months-long audition process.

“They got a hold of us (earlier this year),” Altieri said. “That doesn’t mean you skip a couple steps, though. You still have to go through most of it. And it’s pretty rigorous.”

Altieri said the opportunity is something companies dream about.

“The big thing is just the exposure,” he said. “There’s the ‘Shark Tank effect,’ so whether you get a deal or you don’t, there are millions of people who watch the show every week. So having that exposure for a small business? You can’t put a price tag on that.”

Altieri sat down with the Tribune-Review in FlexScreen’s podcast studio to discuss his upcoming appearance.

The other element is the possibility of gaining a serious investor in the form of one of the show’s hosts.

“An opportunity to partner with any of them is huge,” he said. “They have funds, which is great for small businesses. And the other side of it is their expertise.”

In order to do so, Altieri had to pitch FlexScreen in much the same way he did with his initial investors, although this time had a few years of sales figures to bolster his argument. He also had to condense the typical 20-minute client pitch, first to two minutes then to one.

“It was a challenge, for sure,” he said. “Thankfully I have some amazing people who work with me and could help me with it. For someone who’s so into the business, I thought, ‘There’s no way I can get my story into a minute, minute-and-a-half … but you just break it down until it’s just a handful of sentences.”

By the time Altieri was on a flight to Los Angeles to tape the show, “that pitch was everything. I was listening to it on the plane, trying to memorize it.”

Altieri wasn’t able to discuss the results of the show. Those interested will have to tune in Jan. 5. He could only say that it was a surreal, humbling experience.

“They’re firing questions off, they’re talking over each other, and there might be three open questions at the same time,” he said. “So you’re trying to digest those questions and formulate an answer, all while you’re talking at the same time.”

Once he began discussing FlexScreen in more detail, he got more comfortable.

“When it became a little more personable, where you have a chance to take a deep breath about halfway through, I thought, ‘I’m doing alright, I haven’t thrown up yet.’ But ultimately it’s a tremendous amount of pressure,” he said.

FlexScreen will appear on “Shark Tank” at 9 p.m. Jan. 5 on ABC.